Comment Re:Sounds About Right to Me (Score 1) 395
I grew up in NJ and had a similar experience. I never subscribed to AOL but the AIM was available standalone I began using it to communicate with all my friends any family who were either AOL users or got AIM because of the huge install base. I had used IRC and ICQ but mostly to talk to foreigners. Eventually yahoo and msn as well. The article specifically talks about a significant time period when aim had "status" or "away messages" and people began leaving it connected perpetually. People (teenagers) used these the same way they now use facebook to broadcast what they were doing to their friends. Many people I know still do this. I keep my aim connected through gmail/gtalk, pidgin, or an iphone app to this day. My fiancée's entire office uses it to communicate. I used aim for voice chat a few times, yahoo and msn for video chat long before Skype was "the thing". I still don't keep skype connected.